http://uk.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUKL1572571220071016
Putin tells U.S. not to strike Iran
Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:37pm BST
By Oleg Shchedrov and Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin made clear to Washington
on Tuesday that Russia would not accept military action against Iran
and he invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Moscow for
talks.
Putin made the invitation to Ahmadinejad, shunned by the West which
fears his nuclear programme is a cover for building atomic weapons,
after meeting him and leaders of other Caspian Sea states who ruled
out any strikes on Iran from their region.
Dates for Ahmadinejad's visit would be arranged through diplomatic
channels, RIA news agency quoted a statement by the two leaders as
saying.
Earlier, in comments aimed at the United States, Putin said during his
talks in Iran: "We should not even think of using force in this
region."
"We need to agree that using the territory of one Caspian Sea (state)
in the event of aggression against another is impossible," he told the
presidents of Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan at a
summit of Caspian Sea states.
Western nations accuse Tehran of seeking atomic weapons, a charge
Tehran denies. Washington has refused to rule out the use of force if
diplomacy fails to resolve the row.
Asked about Russia's invitation to Ahmadinejad, a U.S. State
Department official said: "It's up to the Russians to determine how
they want to manage their bilateral relations with Iran."
Putin's remarks about territory also appeared aimed at ex-Soviet
Azerbaijan, where the U.S. military has inspected airfields. Russian
media have suggested Washington might be trying to negotiate the right
to use its military facilities. Baku denies this.
Russia is annoyed at what it sees as the West's attempts to end its
influence in former Soviet states.
In a final declaration, the Caspian nations backed Putin's call,
saying "under no circumstances will they allow (the use of their)
territories by third countries to launch aggression or other military
action against any of the member states".
The countries also backed the rights of signatories to the Non-
Proliferation Treaty -- which includes Iran -- to develop peaceful
nuclear energy.
Ahmadinejad, who says Tehran will not stop atomic work that he insists
is peaceful, praised the Caspian declaration.
Putin's trip to Iran, the first made by a Kremlin leader since 1943,
has been watched because of Russia's potential leverage, on behalf of
fellow world powers, to rein in Iran using its trade and nuclear
supply ties with Tehran.
PROGRESS ON BUSHEHR PLANT
Russia is building Iran's first atomic power plant in the port city of
Bushehr. Russia says Iran is behind in payments for the plant, causing
construction delays, but Iran says it is up to date and that Moscow is
bowing to Western pressure.
Putin told Iranian media he could not provide guarantees for when fuel
for the plant, also delayed, would be delivered. He said this would
depend on discussions about the contract. The two sides agreed,
Russian news agencies said, that Russia would complete work according
to the "agreed timetable".
The timetable has regularly slipped and Putin's comments are likely to
disappoint Iranian officials, who before his arrival, said they
expected "good news" about Bushehr.
Putin turned up in Iran after shrugging off a Russian report about a
plot to kill him during the trip. Russian officials had suggested he
might change his plans. Iran dismissed the report.
Putin had bilateral talks with Ahmadinejad and also met Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate authority in Iran.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed two rounds of limited sanctions
on Iran, which were backed by Russia and five other world powers --
the United States, France, Germany, Britain and China. Washington and
Paris are pushing for tougher steps.
Moscow says it sees no evidence of a military programme and is
resisting Western calls for new sanctions. Russia has also been
alarmed by talk in the West that the row could result in conflict.
France has warned of a possible war.
But, in Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey was confident
of Moscow's support as the U.S. and others push for more punitive
action.
"We fully expect that we will have support from the Russian Government
for our longstanding policy that has been crafted, not by the U.S. but
by the members of the Security Council, starting with the P-5+1," he
said, referring to the permanent five members of the U.N. Security
Council plus Germany.
(With additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl, Reza Derakhshi and Zahra
Hosseinian, and Sue Pleming in Washington)
-------------------------
Putin warns against attacks on Iran
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 16, 7:48 PM ET
Vladimir Putin issued a veiled warning Tuesday against any attack on
Iran as he began the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Tehran in six
decades - a mission reflecting Russian-Iranian efforts to curb U.S.
influence.
He also suggested Moscow and Tehran should have a veto on Western
plans for new pipelines to carry oil and natural gas from the Caspian
Sea, using routes that would bypass Russian soil and break the
Kremlin's monopoly on energy deliveries from the region.
Putin came to Tehran for a summit of the five nations bordering the
Caspian, but his visit was aimed more at strengthening efforts to
blunt U.S. economic and military ties in the area. Yet he also refused
to set a date for completing Iran's first nuclear reactor, trying to
avoid an outright show of support for Iran's defiance over its nuclear
program.
Putin strongly warned outside powers against use of force in the
region, a clear reference to the United States, which many in Iran
fear will attack over the West's suspicions that the Iranians are
secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made similar comments.
"We are saying that no (Caspian) nations should offer their territory
to outside powers for aggression or any military action against any of
the Caspian states," Putin said.
The five national leaders at the summit later signed a declaration
that included a similar statement - an apparent reflection of Iranian
fears that the United States could use Azerbaijan's territory as a
staging ground for military strikes in Iran.
Putin has warned against such attacks previously, but reiterating them
in Tehran gave them greater resonance - particularly at a summit for a
region where Moscow deeply resents U.S. and European attempts at
greater influence.
The Russian leader also used the occasion to make a nod to Iran's
national pride - describing it as a "world power" and referring to the
might of the ancient Persian empire.
In Iran's confrontation with the West, Russia has tread a fine line,
warning against heavy pressure on Iran and protecting it - for now -
from a third round of U.N. sanctions, while urging Tehran to heed the
Security Council's demand that it halt uranium enrichment.
Putin's careful stance on completing the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear
power plant in Iran suggested the Kremlin is seeking to preserve solid
ties with Tehran without angering the West.
"Russia is trying to sit in two chairs at the same time," Fyodor
Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, told The
Associated Press. A pledge to quickly complete the plant would send a
"strong signal to the West that Russia is with Iran," he said.
Putin showed he wouldn't be pressed into speeding up completion of the
$1 billion contract to build Bushehr.
"I only gave promises to my mom when I was a small boy," he snapped
when Iranian reporters prodded him to promise a quick launch.
At the same time, Putin - on the first trip to Iran by a Kremlin
leader since Josef Stalin visited in 1943 for talks with Winston
Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II - said Moscow
wouldn't back down on its obligation to finish the plant.
"Russia has clearly stated that it's going to complete this work,"
Putin said. "We are not renouncing this obligation."
Russia has warned that the Bushehr plant would not go on line this
fall as originally planned, saying Iran was slow in making payments.
Iranian officials have angrily denied being behind in its payments and
accuse the Kremlin of caving in to Western pressure.
Moscow also has ignored Iranian demands to ship nuclear reactor fuel
for the plant, saying it would be delivered only six months before the
Bushehr plant begins operation. The launch date has been delayed
indefinitely amid the payment dispute.
Putin said the two sides were negotiating revisions to the Bushehr
contract, and once agreed a decision on fuel can be made.
The Caspian leaders offered a degree of support for the Iranian
nuclear program, stressing in their joint statement that any country
like Iran which has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has the
right to "carry out research and can use nuclear energy for peaceful
means without discrimination."
Putin underlined his disagreements with Washington on Iran last week,
saying he had seen no "objective data" showing Tehran is trying to
construct nuclear weapons. Iran says it need enriched uranium to fuel
nuclear reactors that will generate electricity.
The main issue before the summit was the Caspian Sea itself.
Divvying up territory in and around the inland sea - believed to
contain the world's third-largest reserves of oil and natural gas -
has been a divisive issue among the five nations, and the leaders
showed no signs of progress toward resolving the dispute.
The Caspian's offshore borders have been in limbo since the 1991
Soviet collapse. The lack of agreement has led to tensions and
conflicts over oil deposits, but Putin and Ahmadinejad strongly warned
outside powers to stay away from the region.
"All issues related to the Caspian should be settled exclusively by
littoral nations," Ahmadinejad said.
Moscow strongly opposes U.S.- and European-backed efforts to build
pipelines to deliver Central Asian and Caspian oil and gas to the West
by bypassing Russia, through which all the region's pipelines now
flow. Russia has pushed for new pipelines to cross its territory as
well.
Putin argued that all pipeline projects in the region should require
the approval by all five Caspian nations to take effect, a view that
would give each capital a veto.
"Projects which may inflict a serious damage to the Caspian
environment can't be and mustn't be implemented without a preliminary
discussion by the Caspian five and making a consensus decision in the
interests of our common sea," Putin said.
But the idea was barely mentioned in comments by the leaders of the
former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan,
which are striving to balance their relations with Russia, the West
and Asia.
In Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, political analyst Ilgar Mamedov said
the veto idea was only "Putin's opinion." Caspian nations "are
independent and act in accordance with their own interests," he said.
___
Associated Press writers Ali Akbar Dareini and Nasser Karimi in Tehran
and Steve Gutterman in Moscow contributed to this report.
---------------------------------------
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2673546.ece
From The TimesOctober 17, 2007
Vladimir Putin pledges to complete Iranian nuclear reactor
Image :1 of 2
Tony Halpin in Moscow
President Putin forged an alliance with Iran yesterday against any
military action by the West and pledged to complete the controversial
Iranian nuclear power plant at Bushehr.
A summit of Caspian Sea nations in Tehran agreed to bar foreign states
from using their territory for military strikes against a member
country. Mr Putin, the first Kremlin leader to visit Iran since the
Second World War, insisted that the use of force was unacceptable.
"It is important . . . that we not only not use any kind of force but
also do not even think about the possibility of using force," he told
the leaders of Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.
The declaration of the five states did not specify a particular
threat. Rumours have long circulated, however, that the US is seeking
Azerbaijan's permission to use airfields for possible military action
to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.
Mr Putin arrived in Tehran for the summit amid tight security after
warnings of a plot by suicide bombers to assassinate him. His visit is
a propaganda coup for President Ahmadinejad as he faces American and
European pressure for tougher United Nations sanctions to halt Iran's
nuclear program.
Mr Putin and Mr Ahmadinejad met after the summit for private talks.
State television in Tehran quoted Mr Putin as saying that Russia would
continue to "assist Iran's peaceful nuclear program".
Russia is building Iran's first atomic power plant in the port city of
Bushehr. A row over Iranian payments has slowed down the work, and Mr
Putin emerged from yesterday's meeting without setting a date for the
$1 billion (=A3500 million) project.
However, Russian media later reported that Moscow had promised to
complete the work on schedule. "The construction and the commission of
Bushehr will be implemented in accordance with the agreed timetable,"
the Russian news agency Ria reported, citing the two leaders' joint
statement. Mr Putin also invited Mr Ahmadinejad to Moscow.
Mr Putin said that the Bushehr contract would have to be reviewed to
clarify legal matters and the financial obligations of each party.
Moscow has delayed delivery of nuclear fuel for the station as part of
the dispute.
The Tehran declaration strengthened Moscow's hostility to any attempt
at a military solution. It also offered support for Iran by asserting
the right of any country that had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty to develop peaceful nuclear energy "without discrimination".
Tehran insists that its nuclear programme is purely for civil purposes
to generate electricity.
The summit was called to try to settle the status of the Caspian among
the five states that border the sea. Iran and the former Soviet Union
shared it equally but there has been a 16-year dispute over mineral
rights since the emergence the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The leaders failed to reach agreement on dividing the seabed, which is
believed to hold the world's third-largest reserves of oil and gas.
They agreed to meet again in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, next
year.
Ties that bind
- Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled energy company, has invested $750
million (=A3370 million) in projects in Iran
- Russia exports $2 billion of metal and machinery to Iran a year
- Russia has supplied nuclear technology to Iran, including the $1
billion Bushehr reactor
- Russia is a key supplier of arms to Iran, including a $700 million
air-defence system, MiG29 combat aircraft and T72 tanks
- Iran's goodwill is useful for Russia's attempts to control fractious
Muslim minorities in Central Asia and the Caucasus
- Both countries oppose the eastward expansion of Nato
Sources: Council on Foreign Relations; Institute for Defense Studies
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